The Secret Of Indian Caves
A Passage To India By E. M. Forster is a tale of two British ladies who came to
India to understand real India and Indians. Like all other Europeans and most
of the Westerners they are disappointed, discarded and miserably fail in their
mission to the extent that one of them Mrs. Moore is older and less tolerant to
cultural shock dies during her return journey. The delineation in the many aspects
of the novel such as theme and narration is amazing. The use of motif,
allusion and symbol is so strong that what is left after going through novel
"what remains is much more than a cluster of impressions, some clear points emerging
from a mist of uncertainties” as envisaged by Percy Lubbock in his
book “The Craft of Fiction”.
The turning point
is in the cave visit by a group of friends. G. L. Dickinson had asked a very
pertinent question to E. M. Forster.
“What did happen in
the caves?”
It is same as when someone
asked Samuel Beckett “Who is Godot?” He said I would have told it in my
book, had I known it. It puts a question mark to the omniscience of the author.
Sometimes Author can be as innocent as his readers. Forster himself did not
knew what happened in the cave. His guess would be as wild as that of his readers. The
speculation leads to debate, and obscure often leads to self-realisation which
is the ultimate object of the author. When Buddha said “Be your own
light”, meant that I have searched some universal Golden Truth, but you will
have to search your own truth for salvation. What is the use of writing a book,
if it does not help readers to understand the life better?
The visit to the
caves starts with a train journey to Marabar Hills, where the caves were
located. The train journey in India is an experience in itself. When Gandhi
returned from London after his degree in Law, his political Guru, Gokhle
advised him to travel the length and breadth of India by train. The rattling
noise made by train has a rhythm and rhyme which soon synchronises with
torrents of thoughts that come to surface of sub vague , desolated
panorama around them.
Mrs. Moore was
tired and had no enthusiasm to participate in matrimonial plans of her would be
daughter in law, Adela Quest. Adela was bored and skeptical about her
future with Ronnie in India. She was worried that all Anglo-Indian ended up
hating Indians after a year. Her husband already had a low opinion about
Indians. So far she had seen nothing that would determine the inferiority of
Indians. She was advised to keep a distance and never mix up with them. Ronnie
was annoyed when she was left alone by Fielding with an Indian after a tea
party. She was also introspecting over her prospective relationship with Ronnie.
India has some of
the oldest rock formations. Forster travelled India twice in 1912 and 1921. He
was impressed by its ancient wisdom. The rocks are the oldest dwelling structures
in human civilisation . They are hollow cavities in the mountains. The huge grey
elephant and the mountains have an impression of the magnanimity of the nature and the smallness
of man. The void of a cave symbolises the void in human life. The huge inflated
ego of man have like the mountains have caves that are void, hollow and empty.The void which is offended by any kind of intrusion. The
nothingness of eternity is conquerable by silence and solitude. Both the
ladies who were skeptical and contemptuous about their surroundings had a terrible
experience. The intensity of the shock is
directly proportional to the intensity of repulsion.
The hallucination
starts with certain Echoes. The various sounds created in the caves since
troglodyte inhabited them had no escape and the resonance caused is usually the
echo of the voice of soul. All the sounds merge into the ultimate and the
first sound of universe “Aum”. This sound is a combination of three Sanskrit
alphabets that represent the Sun, the Moon and Fire. Everything- even nothingness, is
transient in nature. This transient nature of her own microcosm hits Mrs. Moore
like a thud in a physical form. Every relationship culminates in nullity.
It is immaterial if
Adela was raped by Aziz or not. Did she made up the story to attract the
attention of people? Was it her tantrum to get rid of her fiancé? Was she
prejudiced to the masculinity of Muslim and was disappointed by dispassionate
approaches of her fiancé?
The answer is left
to the reader to guess. What happened afterwards is unimportant.
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© Vipin Behari
Goyal
Really..really..beautiful..I like it,keep in touch from Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. Sure, you are welcome
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